Thursday, 25 February 2010

I like to thank Rony Tan for his public apology to the Buddhist community for the insensitive things he said. However, as a Buddhist I am still concerned. Due to the hype surrounding this incident, many people have watched the video clips where Rony Tan belittled Buddhism. Numerous remarks made against Buddhism were misleading and untrue. If not corrected, this could lead to greater confusion in the general public regarding what Buddhists really believe.

The Chinese Communist Party’s new anti-corruption code bans 52 practices, which include these five:

# Throw a grand wedding, funeral or similar functions# Undertake ‘image projects’ to look good# Pocket public funds or properties# Accept money or gifts under different names# Favour family members, or staff members

David Lim Kay Heng, a 37-year-old former police staff sergeant, has been sentenced to nine months’ jail for accepting a bribe from a man believed to be an operator of illegal gambling outlets. He was also fined S$3,000.

China has won its highest-ever staff position in the IMF in a reflection of its growing economic might and the clamour by emerging nations for a bigger say in global finance.

International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn notified the fund’s executive board on Wednesday of his intention to appoint the deputy Chinese central bank governor, Zhu Min, as his special advisor.

While all eyes in Thailand are focused on what has been touted as a doomsday Constitution Court verdict on former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s frozen billions, the pro-Thaksin, red-shirted United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) is in the midst of another build-up to street protests against the government.

China’s economic growth will plunge to as low as 2 per cent following the collapse of a “debt-fuelled bubble” within 10 years, sparking a regional recession, according to Harvard University professor Kenneth Rogoff.

Anta Sports Products, whose goal is to become the mainland’s leading domestic sportswear retailer by 2013, said yesterday that net profit rose nearly 40 per cent to 1.25 billion yuan (HK$1.42 billion) last year.

General Motors said on Wednesday that it would shut down Hummer, the brand of big sport utility vehicles that became synonymous with the term gas guzzler, after a deal to sell it to a Chinese manufacturer fell apart.

In late February last year, Robert Prechter of Elliott Wave International said "cover your shorts" and predicted a sharp rally that would take the S&P into the 1000 to 1100 range. That prediction came to pass. Prechter then urged investors to "step aside" from long positions, and speculators should "start looking at the short side."

With Prechter firmly back in familiar bearish territory, he joined Aaron and Henry again, armed with scary charts that forecast an imminent "grand, super cycle top" and collapse, mirroring the decline after the 1929 crash. A firm believer in deflation on the horizon, Prechter sees commodity prices falling this year into next.

Prechter admits he hasn't always been right. "The disinflationary period lasted longer than I thought," he confesses. But, this time it's different, he promises.

The UK has produced notable economists over the years, but John Maynard Keynes, the guru of government intervention, was one of truly global significance. So it may be fitting that the UK will also become the deathbed of Keynesian economics.

Ballooning public debt is likely to force several countries to default and the United States to slash spending, according to Harvard University Professor Kenneth Rogoff, who in 2008 predicted the failure of big US banks.

The fiscal time bomb is ticking ever louder, from Greece to Japan and from Britain to the United States, not to mention Portugal, Spain and Ireland. But the ominous sound is being muffled by the clamour for economic growth to be maintained at all costs, even at the expense of bankrupting governments.

Mainland’s banking regulator has told commercial lenders to restrict new credit they provide to local governments’ financing vehicles, to ward off potential risks of default, state media reported on Wednesday.

One of the mainland’s most successful and popular soccer clubs has been dragged into the sweeping crackdown on the sport, a report said yesterday, as the country’s top football management body announced punishments for three other clubs for match-fixing.

Tucked away in China’s steamy tropical southwest are the villages of the Dai people, famous throughout the country for a raucous annual tradition: a water-splashing festival where the Dai douse one another for three days in the streets using any container they can get their hands on — buckets, wash basins, teacups, balloons, water guns.

Swatch Group’s plan to stop supplying rivals with key components threatens the “Swiss made” seal on which the industry rests and could force watchmakers to source from Asia, notably China, or simply go out of business.

China’s banking regulator has told commercial lenders to restrict new lending they provide to the financing arms of local governments, a measure designed to pre-empt a potential overheating in China’s booming economy.

The mainland property market is so vast that it offers thousands of Hong Kong people the opportunity to make their dream careers possible, as Lawrence Tong, graphic designer-turned-feng shui consultant in Shanghai, testifies.

The massive manufacturing complex in the South China city of Longhua resembles an industrial fortress. To enter the facility, workers swipe security cards at the gate. Guards check the occupants of each vehicle with fingerprint recognition scanners.

Here are a couple of recent tales from friends competing in the ever-growing mainland retail market that no serious corporate dare ignore. Both are about clothing brands that most women have heard of and women like me cannot afford.

To combat a growing tide of xenophobia in recent months, the Government has used perks and persuasion to hammer home two key messages. First, that when it comes to public policy, Singaporeans will always come first. And second, that as the privileges of citizenship multiply, more permanent residents (PRs) here should consider trading in their blue identity cards for pink ones.

Last November, a sharp-eyed Israeli woman named Niva Ben-Harush was alarmed to notice a young man attaching something that looked suspiciously like a bomb to the underside of a car in a quiet street near Tel Aviv port. When police arrested him, he claimed to be an agent of the Mossad secret service on a training exercise: his story turned out to be true - though the bomb was a fake.

Singapore may be best known as a hub of electronics manufacturing and transportation, but as it plans for its next stage of economic growth, its leaders are looking toward a radically different sector: the arts.